Thursday, January 15, 2009

Creating Community for Community College Instructors, Part II

At both community colleges at which I teach, today and tomorrow are Flex Days. A Flex Day is designed for a mixture of meetings and professional development. Between College of Marin and Skyline, it is a mix of convocations, department meetings, curriculum meetings and new staff orientations. Skyline is also opening a new Science, Math and Technology wing this semester, so there was unpacking of boxes, distribution of keys and trying not to get too lost in the hallways.

In the process of my meetings today, I was introduced to a fellow instructor who teaches evening classes. His comments confirmed my earlier thoughts: Teaching evening classes can be especially isolating for instructors, as the chance to meet up with peers is very limited. Like myself, he is eager to improve his teaching, and notes that it is very difficult to do a straight lecture class such as Anatomy, in the evenings. He has been looking for ways to improve his teaching, but with few colleagues to interact or share with, it makes the teaching rather lonely.

Luckily, he and I may be able to meet up once a week, as my lab ends about an hour before he is scheduled to teach. My hope is that he and I could meet up periodically for an evening meal and talk about how to make lectures more engaging. Perhaps we'll also have the chance to observe each other teaching, and collect data about our practice and our students. I have a similar project going with three other colleagues called a Teaching Square, which I will discuss in an upcoming post, and while I don't see it appropriate for him to join us now, the intention is that our Teaching Square program will be expanded in the future.

Another benefit I am seeing from working at community college, which I have sorely missed at the K-12 level, is the chance to talk to my colleagues about research. Since community college instructors in science typically have a Master's or Doctorate, I have peers who have done scientific research, and I can draw from their research experience to further inform my teaching. I am very excited about that.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Creating Community for Community College Instructors, Part 1

Community college teaching, I am discovering, can in some ways be more isolating and lonelier than K-12 teaching. In K-12 practice, you are on campus daily with the same group of adults, even though you may not interact with them on a daily basis. You may also be meeting with your peers on a regular basis; at my former high school I met with some subset of my peers formally once a week.

In community college, you are lucky if there is a departmental meeting each semester. You may know few of your colleagues, even in your own department, especially if you are teaching part-time or in the evenings. This makes it difficult to feel a sense of community, or to exchange ideas about how to better reach students by improving instruction.

To combat some of my isolation, I am considering a variety of professional societies focused on science education, reflecting my own focus on Biology. Societies are listed in descending relevance:
National Science Teachers' Association
Society for College Science Teachers
National Science Education Leadership Association
Association for Science Teacher Education
National Association of Biology Teachers

I will likely elect for membership in the first three, as well as Sigma Xi or possibly AAAS.